Font types can include types created by companies known as font foundries. While some foundries allow fonts they have created to be freely distributed or at least to be embedded in documents that are created using the fonts, other foundries restrict what can and cannot be done with a particular font. Generally speaking, there are different levels of restriction that loosely define what one can and cannot do with a particular font. On one level, a font can be completely unrestricted, meaning that one can install it on a client system, distribute it to others for installation, and the like. However, on other levels, there may be various types of restrictions. For example, there are some fonts that carry with them a restriction that they can only be installed on the user's client system if the user is the customer who bought an associated license. In some instances, further restrictions may allow the font to be used for printing, but may not allow the font to be used for anything else, such as doing a print preview. In other instances, embedding the font file associated with a font in a document may be restricted altogether.
These types of restrictions, and others, can greatly inhibit production of a particular document that contains restricted fonts.
Accordingly, this invention arose out of concerns associated with providing systems and methods that enhance production and consumption of documents in view of restricted fonts.